Tag Archives: new year

Starting The Year Out Hard

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So far I’m starting this year out hard!

2010 was a bad year for me, even though I paid off my mortgage and my sister had a baby!  I’ve been hoping that 2011 would be a much better year, but so far, the year is starting out hard!

Hard Events of 2011, so far:

  • A old friend’s dad died at the very beginning of the year.  I went down alone because everybody in my family was busy.
  • A co-worker’s father-in-law died and we were short-staffed at work, so I volunteered to cover third shift while he was in china for two weeks.  This shift was draining…  I won’t be doing this again, EVER!
  • It was determined that my son needs braces, BAM… getting them will cost over $4,000!
  • I went to lunch one day at taco bell, and hit the snow-covered wall rim of the drive-thru with my tire, boom I got a flat!  Of course I didn’t bring a coat since I knew I was just going through the drive-thru.  So there I was changing the tire out in the snow without a coat on.  Next I took the tire to a shop to get patch, but the side wall had a tear, so I had to get a new tire grrrr!

No doubt, this is a horrible start of the year!  You might think I would be down, but I’m not.  Life happens and you need to keep a positive outlook no matter what!  So to the year 2011, I say bring it!!!

Life is full of bumps and this year I’m not going to dwell on my problems!  It’s full steam ahead for me!

How is your 2011 so far?  I still believe this will be a much better year for me that 2010!

-MR
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Holistic Approach to New Year Resolutions

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I admit it, I failed on most of my New Year Resolutions!

I started out strong, but then ran out of motivation.  2010, while a good year financially for me, was a bad year on a developmental level.

That’s why I decided to buck the trend of stating a defined list of resolutions and instead go for a more Holistic Approach to my New Year goals.

Before I go to explain what I mean by taking a holistic approach to my New Year goals, let me review the results of my 2010 Resolutions:

  1. Losing Weight While Saving Money  – While I didn’t get bigger, I also didn’t lose the desired weight.  So I stalled on this particular goal.  This was my biggest disappointment!
  2. Stop Being a Pack Rat – This resolution I was able to conquer!  This is the only resolution that I was able to beat!
  3. Maximizing Who I Am – This is my biggest defeat.  I didn’t maximize who I am at all!

So in conclusion, in 2010 I started with high expectations, but I ended up disappointed.

A brand new plan, the Holistic Approach:

By Holistic Approach, I basically mean that I’m not going to compartmentalize my life into individual buckets!  Instead I’m going to create everything as just a typical part of the process, and consider everything as a entire system.  That way I just don’t do well in one area while neglecting the other areas.

Next, I will try to optimize the process so that it can be accomplished and in such a way that it’s bearable or at least tolerable.

So for example, I really don’t like the previous resolution of “Losing weight”.  So I will enhance my experience by listening to  a song that will get me pumped up and make me want to work out!, or workout with friends, or maybe my kids…

A bonus is that I have every trick and can use new ideas  to accomplish goals at my disposal!

I admit, I’m kind of winging it here, this will be an entirely new way to approach my goals.  This will be a lifestyle change for me, or at least I believe that it will!

-MR

If you are interested in seeing a more traditional and enumerated New Year’s Resolutions, check out the list at the Financial Samurai’s site called Financial Samurai Goals And Resolutions for 2011.  It’s very impressive!

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